Todd-Williams, Mitchels have double-doubles to lead Jacksonville girls

Rick Scoppe Daily News Staff jdnsports

Thursday

Feb 22, 2018 at 9:14 PMFeb 22, 2018 at 10:04 PM

Cardinals are now 20-3 and play host to Union Pines on Saturday

On the face of it, Jacksonville coach Monique Gidrey should have been pleased.

The Cardinals had rushed back after trailing early 11-2 and were, as always, relentless on defense, although well-schooled Eastern Wayne handled the pressure better than most, and on the glass, where JHS was simply dominate.

And when Thursday night was over the top-seeded Cardinals had beaten the No. 16 Warriors 63-47 at The Bird Cage to advance to the third round of the NCHSAA 3-A girls’ basketball playoffs.

But Gidrey has her eye on a bigger prize – the biggest prize in her sport: a state championship after seeing her Cardinals fall in the regional final a year ago.

“I expect to be above and beyond at this level. We worked hard for it all year. So why are you holding back now? Why are you mad?” Gidrey said. “I’m just not pleased with my bench. You’ve got to come off the bench wanting to play. This is the playoffs. We’re really going to take care of that in practice tomorrow.

“You’ve got a bench of 14. It’s going to take everybody to make a run for the state (title). I don’t care if you get two minutes or a second or whatever, it’s going to take effort by all.

“And it’s going to be harder and harder to get to that bigger goal. Teams are not going to hand stuff to you. You’re not going to win by 30, 40 points. It’s not going to be that easy.”

The Cardinals will play host to No. 9 Union Pines (21-7) on Saturday in the third round. Union Pines downed No. 8 Wilson Hunt 53-43.

Jacksonville (20-3), which has now won at least 20 games three straight seasons, was led by Kennedy Todd-Williams with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Nya Mitchels also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Kiani Gravely chipped in 11 points.

Eastern Wayne, which finishes 19-7, was led by the sister duo of Myesha Best (23 points) and Nyesha Best (18 points, 15 rebounds).

The Warriors, who were averaging 10.4 turnovers a game, committed 16 against JHS, which had 18. The Cardinals, however, had a 48-25 advantage on the glass, which JHS turned into 24 second-chance points. Eastern Wayne had just 2 second-chance points.

““They were very tall, strong,” Eastern Wayne coach Michael Gurganus said. “My girls gave it everything they had. There were times where we had mental lapses. A team this size and this big you have to box out every single possession.”

With Myesha Best hitting three of her six 3-pointers in the first 2:45, the Warriors raced to an 11-2 lead, but the Cardinals pulled within 16-15 with 1:31 left in the first quarter and then went on a 17-2 run in a span of just over 6½ minutes to go up 32-21 with 1:30 left in the half.

Mitchels had three buckets, two on follow shots, in the surge while Areon Laurent added a 3-pointer.

Eastern Wayne closed to 38-33 on Myesha Best’s final 3-pointer of the game with 4:56 left in the third quarter, but the Cardinals answered with a 16-3 run to put the game away.

“We came out sloppy a little bit, but we picked it up,” Todd-Williams said. “Our defense really stepped up. I’m proud of us, but it’s on to the next game.”